Are there any electronic devices based on ATmega328p/ATmega328 microcontrollers?

Hi, I have a couple of questions about a life cycle of a project.
Are there some devices used in daily life (e.g. washing machine, TV remote, Coffee machine etc.) based on ATmega328/ATmega328p (Arduino Uno and Nano chips) ?
I'm asking this because I'm curious of what happens if a person makes prototype of some unique product with Arduino.
What is the next step in a life cycle of a product if one wants to produce more of it?
It wouldn't look professional to use Arduino boards in production even if product worked perfectly fine with them?
Can ATmega328/328p chip be used for mass production or new, more complex, chip must be used? If so, then code of a program should also be changed to fit that new microcontroller?

The 328 is not magic.

If/when it is no longer available, a new controller can be used.

That depends, in part, on how many you need to make and how much you can afford to pay for parts. If you are making thousands of units you can increase profit by looking for the least expensive processor that will do the job. Similarly, if you are making devices that won't sell if the price is above $5 there is no way you can afford to put a $20 part in it.

If the board is inside a sealed case then you don't have to worry about appearances. However, the Arduino UNO isn't much more than an ATmega328p chip and a power supply. If you design your own board you can use a $2-3 chip instead of a $20 board.

If I designed my own board with ATmega328p chip, then I would also need a port on that board for uploading the code to ATmega?

With a bootloader on chip you can use Serial (RX/TX) for loading the code. Without a bootloader you can use parallel (HV) programming or Debug Wire. ICSP is possible as well.

Typically you would put an ICSP header on your board. Then you would use Sketch->Upload Using Programmer to upload the sketch to the chip. I recommend the "USBasp" for ICSP programming. They are very inexpensive on eBay.

One o the alternative is to use a mainboard with you application interface (buttons, drivers etc), and a pluggable CPU daughterboard tomswap the brains in and out.

If a designed needed to design a washing machine control board. And due to the needs of the design the ATMega328 was chosen. The designer would not use an Arduino board but just the IC. It would be mounted on his/her board design.

New product designers confer with the device mfg to understand the IC mfg obsolescence plan. For Automotive the IC supplier has to commit to a minimum mfg life, I think its 10 years.

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Commercial products are e.g. the 8-bit mainboards in 3-D printers. However, these are usually not based on the ATmega328, but on the ATmega2560.

I don't know any commercial products that have either an ATMega328 or ATmega2560. However a quick look puts the ATmega2560 nearly 4 times the cost of the 328.

For the OP; A new product designer has access to (then) Atmel and Microchip's tech rep as well as the tech rep for a dozen other microprocessor suppliers. So the just don't "pick" a processor the weigh functions with package size and cost.

So what I understood, I can just make a request for certain design of a board and certain microcontroller that I want to use, also ICSP header on a board so I can upload program myself?
I would have to pick one of ATmegas since I wouldn't want to modify my code or even to write it again from scratch on some assembly like language.
328 would be a good price for me and It would work perfectly, but fact that no commercial products (other than arduino) use 328 worries me a bit.

People here have made 10,000s of units to do things.

Why ?

I would agree with you, more and better Ic's have come along and the AT168 which proceeded the A328 has been around for a while.
But I suggest you go to the Microchip website and in their "choosing a µP" section see if the AT328 is recommended for new designs.

Who found out that fact? Who ever published which µC are used in which commercial product?

Yes, you are right. I just failed to find a specific commercial product that uses 328 but that doesn't mean it is non-existent or that it wouldn't perform well.

If you are in the US and will offer the device for sale, it first must pass FCC requirements that will be tested by an independent lab. That includes your production software. Any changes, including software MUST be retested.
Paul

I think you completely misunderstand. :astonished:

The ATmega series of microcontrollers are not produced for the Arduino "market". :crazy_face: Never were and never will be.

The fact that they actually exist - and have done so for many years - proves that they are used in literally tons of commercial products.

Whether or not you (or indeed, we) just happen to know which ones, has nothing whatsoever to do with this. :roll_eyes:

Commercial vendors that use microcontrollers seldom advertise which microcontroller they use...

Again, in my opinion its irrelevant how many commercial products the 328 are in. The only thing that matters is how long Microchip will continue to produce them.

If you can't find it on their website... ask them.

a commercial product with an ATmega328 according to the description:
GRBL Driver Board